Cool. I did my first leaf cleanups yesterday, and as mentioned in another thread, I forgot to take pics. Can you believe it - Hedgemaster with no pics to post? LOL

I had a pile like that one shown yesterday and there was too much volume to blow it all to the curb from the back yard so I raked the pile onto a big tarp and dragged the leaves out front in three trips, dumping them on the street.

Hey, when you say "pick up", what exactly do you mean? Pick up by hand/rake? Pick up with mower/bagger?

CHEESE2009

10-26-2011, 05:23 PM

Hey, when you say "pick up", what exactly do you mean? Pick up by hand/rake? Pick up with mower/bagger?

Well I mulch the leaves with the tractor at 4-4.5" without the bagger.

Then I mulch again at 3.5" without the bagger.

Then I pickup the leaves with the tractor + bagger at 3".

I also may cut the entire lawn afterwards at 3" or 2.5", just to give it a neater look. Mulching/picking up leaves with the tractor can get messy as their is no proper pattern to follow, so it's best to cut the entire lawn properly right at the end.

TAKE PICS!!! :D

Steve

10-26-2011, 06:17 PM

What do you feel is the benefit of that multi step process? Why not just use the bagger the first time?

CHEESE2009

10-26-2011, 06:46 PM

What do you feel is the benefit of that multi step process? Why not just use the bagger the first time?

Mulching it the first time has many benefits...

1. The leaves become more compact for bagging, so you save quite a lot of space, and bags.

2. You prevent the chute from clogging.

:D

Upscale2

10-27-2011, 02:17 PM

Everyone does things differently, however if that was a large parcel, like an acre, you would be there all day doing all of that work.

By your photos, I would have that area cleaned out and mowed in 1 hour.

Steve

10-27-2011, 06:48 PM

Everyone does things differently, however if that was a large parcel, like an acre, you would be there all day doing all of that work.

How would you do things differently? So he has something to compare and contrast his methods too?

Nice work! I was hoping to get a jump on everything this year so I call and ordered a tarp system for my leaf clean-ups on Wed. They said I can have it done on the Nov 8th so I book it. I check the weather for the week again to see if they changed it because they were calling for rain on Sat. (ya gotta check daily pretty much hourly and it's always different lol) and sure enough they are now calling for 1-3 or 3-6 (depending on the channel) inches of snow for Saturday afternoon to evening. So off to the yard in the am to fire up the 4 snow blowers and quickly mount one hopefully two of the three snow plows. Argh was hoping to get at least two weeks and not be rushed doing it this year.....guess again.

Steve

10-28-2011, 06:27 PM

I call and ordered a tarp system for my leaf clean-ups on Wed

What kind of system are you looking at?

Tarp / Dump Trailer
Pros: Fast.
Cons: A full tarp is heavy to lift into a trailer alone.

With the dump, would it make it easier because you could tilt the bed and that would help in the loading process? Or how would the dump help in this manner?

Liberty Landscaping LLC

10-28-2011, 11:38 PM

Steve
A small company near me makes them. The make a dome using multiple bent alum pipes and the tarp attaches over it. it has a flap that comes down in the front and the back that makes the leaves stay inside. It runs about 500 plus tax for the 8 ft dump insert version.

Martywdx

10-30-2011, 02:38 PM

Well I mulch the leaves with the tractor at 4-4.5" without the bagger.

Then I mulch again at 3.5" without the bagger.

Then I pickup the leaves with the tractor + bagger at 3".

I also may cut the entire lawn afterwards at 3" or 2.5", just to give it a neater look. Mulching/picking up leaves with the tractor can get messy as their is no proper pattern to follow, so it's best to cut the entire lawn properly right at the end.

TAKE PICS!!! :D
My pickup system is the same. I do put the mulched leaves on an over size trap on the trailer. When full drive them to my backyard reveen. Then slide the tarp off the trailer using the ramps. I live in a small town so my dump time is only about 10-15 mins. from any job site. When the leaves are on the wet side I use 2 tarps to split the weight.

CHEESE2009

10-31-2011, 12:16 PM

Leaf Removal for the property I cut in my youtube video. (The lawn that I caught fire on).

http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad41/breeze2009/leafRemoval1.jpg

http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad41/breeze2009/leafRemoval2.jpg

avetslawncare

02-25-2012, 10:57 PM

some work i did the past couple days, i'll post pictures of the backyard soon